


Drained Dry

by taylor_tut



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: David Whump, Dehydration, Gen, Heat Stroke, Protective Gwen, Protective Max, Sick Character, Sickfic, Whump, sick david
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 13:39:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16119587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylor_tut/pseuds/taylor_tut
Summary: Another prompt from my tumblr: this one was for David being hurt and met with vast underreaction. I chose for him to get dehydrated on a hike and no one notices until Max, Nikki, and Neil try to mess with him.





	Drained Dry

David overturned his water pouch with a frown, watching as only a few drops fell to the ground and nearly evaporated as soon as they hit the dirt on one of the hottest days of the year. 

“Gwen, we have an emergency!” he called. Gwen’s shoulders tensed as she steeled herself for whatever bullshit she was about to have to deal with, but relaxed when she saw no visible corpses or blood.

“What?” she asked, her tone full of dread. 

“My canteen is empty,” he told her, and she rolled her eyes.

“That’s all?” she asked, and David nodded. “Oh, thank God. I thought it was a real emergency.”

David opened and closed his mouth like a trout. “But Gwen,” he whined, tugging at the collar of his shirt, “it’s hot!” 

“You’ll live until we get back to camp,” she deadpanned, turning around grumbling something about how the whole stupid hike had been his idea in the first place. David had failed to tell her that he’d been running around all morning scouting out the best path for the campers to take, paying attention to places that might be slippery or muddy from the previous days’ rain, which unfortunately meant that most of their trek was in direct sunlight, since those were the areas that had dried the quickest.

He also forgot to mention that he hadn’t drank anything that whole time, nor had he finished his canteen, but rather forgotten to fill it at all in his haste to ensure that the campers had water and sunscreen. 

Oh, well. Just like Gwen said, he’d live until they got back to camp, right?

 

Turns out, only partially right. While he’d definitely survived the rest of the hike, managing to hide what a toll it had taken on him physically, David was exhausted and dizzy by the time that they got back to the mess hall for a late lunch, enough so that he felt too nauseated to keep much down despite knowing that he needed water badly.

Gwen sat down next to him at the table, eyeing him amusedly and assuming that he was just tired—they all were. 

“Finally overdosed on outdoor fun?” she teased, smirking when David only groaned and rested his head on his hands. “You’d better rest up so you’re ready for the bonfire tonight,” she warned. “I’m not singing any camp songs.”

Normally, David would have offered to begin playing guitar right that moment, reassured her that he’d been BORN ready to sing camp songs, but instead, he just offered a weak thumbs up that ended up making his whole arm cramp up painfully. By the time he found the words to tell Gwen as much, she’d already started to rush toward a fight between Nurf and Harrison. 

The rest of the campers were actually in pretty high spirits. As much as they complained about activities like hiking, the exercise always gave them energy and things to talk about amongst themselves.

“Hey, Max,” Nikki called, a serious look on her face as she sat hunched over her food. 

“Yeah?”

“Look what I got.” Expressionlessly, as if she were selling watches on a subway car, she opened the pocket of her overalls to reveal several salamanders squirming around inside. 

“Oh, my God,” Max sighed, not sure what he had expected but somehow disappointed in himself for being a little surprised, “let’s go put them down David’s shirt.”

With Gwen busy yelling at the other kids, Nikki, Max, and Neil were free to sneak up behind David’s table. They tossed the first salamander through the air and onto the table, expecting to hear a shriek, but David didn’t so much as pick up his head.

“Throw another one,” Max instructed, but Nikki looked apprehensive. 

“Is he sleeping at the lunch table?” she asked, and Max narrowed his eyes skeptically. David was, indeed, not moving, slumped bonelessly over his own arms with his eyes closed and not even watching the campers. 

“Yo, David,” Max snapped, hopping up to stand on the bench. When David didn’t reply, Max shoved the salamander he was holding onto David’s neck, where its wet little hands scrambled to find solid ground. Even that didn’t rouse him, and Neil reached up and tugged Max’s hoodie sleeve to get him to drop the animal. 

“Is he okay?” Neil asked, something Max was beginning to doubt. 

“Uh, David?” Max prompted, shaking his shoulder and watching as David listlessly put up no resistance. 

“I’m getting Gwen,” Nikki announced, running off frantically. Max moved to stand on the table and slapped at David’s face, beginning to freak out internally when David barely reacted even to that, but at least he opened his eyes this time. 

“Max?” he slurred, like he was barely opening his mouth to speak. 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Max demanded. Gwen rushed over with Nikki and sat directly in front of David so he was facing her, cursing when he looked at her with a bright red face but a sweatless forehead. 

“Fuck, I should have seen this coming,” she berated herself. “Kids, get him some water bottles.” 

Nikki and Neil took off toward the kitchen, but Max had only taken a few sips from his own and handed it over immediately. Gwen coaxed it to his mouth and David, whose eyes rolled dizzily as he sat up, pushed it away at first.

“Come on, David. If you won’t drink, I’ll have to take you to the hospital,” Gwen threatened. Max frowned. 

“Are you sure you shouldn’t take him anyway?” Max asked skeptically. “It’s not like you know what the fuck you’re doing.” 

However, David took the water bottle and started to drink, all the campers gathering around the table and watching anxiously as he downed nearly the whole bottle before his gaze became a little less vacant and he sat up a bit straighter.

“Gwen,” David whined, “did something happen?” 

“Jesus,” she muttered, “yeah, something happened. You told me your water was empty and I told you to suck it up and you got seriously dehydrated.”

David nodded, taking in the nervous stares from the campers. Nikki and Neil had returned, both carrying as many water bottles as they could fit in their arms, and Max had sat down but not left the table. 

“Oh,” David said simply. Massaging his temples with two fingers, he gave a sheepish smile. “I guess the bonfire’s off, huh?” he asked, and Max rolled his eyes. 

“That’s all you’re fucking worried about?” he demanded. “God, you’re an idiot.” Max was angry—genuinely so, not just crabby or disinterested or hostile, but genuinely upset. David reached out a hand and patted him on the back. 

“Sorry for scaring everybody,” he apologized. “I’ll be fine, now. I’m going to go lie down—”

“Oh, no you’re not,” Gwen stopped him with one hand firmly on his shoulder. “You’re sitting here and drinking water until I say you’re done.” David smiled and nodded, taking the next proffered water bottle and twisting off the cap. Without looking David in the eyes, Max reached into his pocket to steal his phone, pulling up campfire songs on Youtube and motioning threatening for the rest of the children to gather around and join in, spending the rest of the afternoon to early evening roasting marshmallows over candles and telling ghost stories in the mess hall while David drank water and relaxed. 


End file.
